Controversial child services ‘would get clean bill of health’
MORAY’S child protection service, which was criticised in a damning report in February, would now be given “a clean bill of health”, a councillor has claimed.
Moray Council depute convener Allan Wright said that an action plan drawn up to address the problems had been a success.
Mr Wright also laid out his vision for the future of child protection services.
Inspectors from HM Inspectorate of Education painted a grim picture of services in the report.
It rated as weak 10 out of 18 aspects of the service, making it one of the worst in the country.
The raft of criticisms included the “significant delays” in investigating suspected abuse and the poor standard of information-sharing between agencies including NHS Grampian, Grampian Police and the local authority.
They have since implemented a series of changes, laid down in an action plan, to address its failings.
About £300,000 has been used to employ nine extra staff.
Another important aspect of the plan was the creation of a dedicated child protection unit for Moray. The £1million facility has been backed by councillors and is due to be completed by spring 2011.
Mr Wright also led a child protection sub-committee at the council to ensure the action plan was serving its purpose.
He revealed it was now reducing the frequency of its meetings, however, as new ways of working came into force.
“I am pretty relaxed about the way the changes are being implemented,” he said. “The committee has not met because we were confident the action plan was in place and was being implemented and agreed that the director would communicate with us if he had any concerns whatsoever.”
vulnerable
Mr Wright said the last step would be the formation of a child protection committee, solely for Moray, comprising all agencies involved in protecting vulnerable children.
He believes “a degree of autonomy” would be good for the service, allowing for closer analysis of problems specific to the area.
Mr Wright said he was confident inspectors would be impressed when they returned to Moray, highlighting a “pretty good” report by the social work inspection agency published this month.
“We will get a clean bill of health,” he said.
